Personal Choice | The Fourth Revolution Blog

How to Manage your Personal Idea Funnel

Following on our previous post “How to Focus on Execution and Still be Open to New Ideas”, let’s develop further the concept of “idea funnel”

The Funnel is a marketing concept that is available in Sales & Marketing and as well in Innovation. But rather than take the innovation funnel I like to compare my own Idea Funnel to the Sales one, because the steps are more relevant. The reason is that the sales funnel is linked to emotional awareness while innovation funnels are more often very rational in their description.

Let’s look at a common representation of a sales funnel. Translated to my personal Idea Funnel, the steps cover the following:

Awareness: an idea just popped up in my consciousness! Can I verbalize it now?
Qualifying interest: a quick ‘due diligence’ to check that the idea is relevant, feasible and could be somewhat useful – and that it is not just a mere fantasy?
Desire: do I feel an emotional twinkling when I consider this idea? Does it get me excited? A definite key factor if I would consider putting the effort to put it in action!
Action: how would this idea fit into my current execution program? Is it time-driven with an expiry date or can it be queued in my execution program? What could be synergies with some other projects I am working on?

And naturally, most of your ideas should fall to the side somewhere along the way – because remember that Focus Means Saying No to most ideas!

What about using this Personal Idea Funnel for your own ideas?

Why You Should Become Better at Change… by Practicing Change

“Getting good at change (big, small, tiny – every day) means getting good at life” writes James Altucher in this excellent post.

We certainly all need to become better at taking change as an opportunity rather than a threat. Change is actually always quite good in terms of excitement and learning. “When you change you go from a flattening learning curve (your old situation) to a steep learning curve (the new situation). Steep learning curves feel good. Like the feeling of new love.”

Of course, changes are not always ignited by us; they can be the result of external forces we don’t control. Sometimes one reason we suffer too much is because we’ve become rusty at change, because we don’t practice enough; we have become too sedentary in our habits. One key secret is probably to exercise at change by changing often. By becoming a nomad of sorts when it comes to our habits. We can exercise this very well by travelling; by relocating elsewhere; and by trying to change our habits and activities often.

A final word from James Altucher: “[Change] without expectation. Wish for nothing. Care for everything. Happiness will be in between“.

Go for it!

How to Achieve Success

To achieve success, don’t aim at success!

That is essentially what Viktor Frankl (author of ‘Man’s Search for Meaning‘) advises. Achieve success by not thinking about success but putting in the hard work, dedication and commitment that is necessary to achieve great things.

“Don’t aim at success – the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it“.

And it is very true in my personal experience: every time I have been very successful, it was when I was concentrating on doing my best work independently of any thought about success and how people would judge me.

Are you concentrating on doing your best work instead of thinking how to achieve success?

How We Always Have a Choice, Even in the Worst Situation

I just finished one of most powerful books I ever read: ‘Man’s Search for Meaning‘ by Viktor Frankl. A psychologist, Viktor Frankl has been interned in the Nazi concentration camps, and survived. In the book he gives an account of his atrocious experience at the edge of what humans can endure (and beyond what most humans can endure) – with the point of view of a psychologist.

This book is emotionally extremely powerful and very profound as well. Frankl states that “There is nothing conceivable which would so condition a man as to leave him without the slightest freedom“. Even in the worst possible external conditions, barely surviving to cold, hunger and abominable treatments, man can still keep its internal freedom intact.

The books also explains vividly why certain people do cope with terrible conditions and survive while others will soon reach despair and die. It all depends on whether life keeps meaning at the present moment.

The lesson is summarized in the following way: “Man is not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them. In other words, man is ultimately self-determining“.

Read the book, it will change your view of life, and at the same time make you so grateful for the normal lives we live today. And even if you feel you are trapped in the worst possible situation, realize that you still have the choice to determine yourself.

Why We Can Elicit Criticism by Just Being Present

Aristotle said “there is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing“.

Again and again I find that I do my best work when I expose myself. And often when I push myself at the edge, or even beyond the limit of my comfort zone. When it is tough and I feel inadequate, where the impostor syndrome hovers in the background. Of course, that is also where one is more vulnerable to criticism.

What I find particularly interesting in Aristotle’s quote is the relation to being. That simply, being somebody, and being present, necessarily exposes to criticism as well.

There is no doubt that just being there in the world, even doing or saying nothing, does change the world a little. There is no hiding from it. Simple observation does change what is being observed. I know from my coaching practice that sometimes, just being silent, and fully present, can be a great vector of change in people and groups. It can be extremely powerful.

It leads to a reaction from the environment, which will resist, often in the shape of criticism. And that is where be absolutely need to be ourselves, and take the best part of the inevitable criticism.

We are, thus we change our surroundings, thus the surroundings will resist. Be aware that criticism can come also from just being here, and fully present.

Other Fourth Revolution posts on overcoming criticism: ‘What should you do with Criticism?‘ and ‘How can you stop trying to please everyone?‘

How to Find Your Sweet Spot

I like the enclosed schematics which is very much inspired from the work of Jim Collins (Good to Great, etc.).

circles_of_life — Where is Your Sweet Spot?

What is says is basically that the Sweet Spot you should seek lies at the intersection of what you are passionate doing, what you are good at (word class) and what pays well. There are other possible locations in between these different poles, which are also possible to sustain, with advantages and drawbacks.

Of course, this is not all independent: if you love doing something there are more chances you will become good at it.

You might also decide to combine simultaneously a job (where you are good at it and it pays well), and a hobby (where you are passionate and good at it).

Anyway, this is an interesting framework to classify your hobbies and activities and check there is sufficient balance in your life. Check your activities against it, it might inspire you!

Why You Should Seek Rejection

“Without rejection there is no frontier, there is no passion, and there is no magic” – James Altucher, in ‘Choose Yourself‘.

This is quite an unconventional thought. People fear rejection. Some do manage rejection in a defensive manner so as to achieve certain goals (for example, salespeople). Many people believe that rejection certainly shows that what we try to do is not the right thing, and pushes us to try new directions.

Should we go further, be fully contrarian, and embrace rejection as a welcome hint that we are on the right way? That is exactly what James Altucher suggests.

On the same level as suggesting that we should push beyond our comfort zone, getting rejection requires that we have done something and that it is not conventional. It is a great result – although maybe a bit discouraging – that shows that we are passionately on the path of magic and creation. It just shows that we need to be persistent in our efforts, that we are creating something new.

Seek rejection with passion as you seek to go beyond your comfort zone. Eventually you’ll be recognized for what you are doing. Rejection shows you are on the right path.

How Joint Teamwork is Key to Success on the Long Term

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships” – Michael Jordan. The star basketball player certainly experienced what he talks about.

On the long term, team work and collective intelligence is the key to success. Even if on the short term, sheer talent or luck can decide the individual day.

I confirm this observation as well in large project teams. Effective teamwork, lack of a blame culture when there is an inevitable setback, that is what makes victory possible on the long term.

Even when there is a setback, concentrate on teamwork and getting clever about the situation. Let yourself not be beaten by bad luck or insufficient talent. You can still win on the long term, if you rely on the joint effort of the brains of your team.

How to Change Your Life: Change Your Story

I got inspired by the following sentence: “We all become the stories we tell ourselves” – Tom Asacker in the Business of Belief.

It is so true that there is a direct linkage between the story we create for ourselves and our actual life.

Change the story you tell yourself and change. Or, if you want to change, you first need to change the story you tell yourself.

In the end, we become the legend we create for ourselves. To change, we need to create a new legend. That is how we will express ourselves to the world.

If you want to change you life, change your legend, your story first. Change the way you talk about yourself and your life. Promote yourself into the role you dream for yourself. Do it, now. You are worth it.

Why Understanding Beliefs is Essential to Implementing Change

“What we believe is what we desire, and what we desire is ultimately what we do. It’s the human condition.” – Tom Asaker in ‘The Business of Belief’.

This sentence left me quite thoughtful. Tom Asaker establishes a strong link between belief and action, through desire. Desire necessarily includes an element of emotion, which compels to act. Belief might be what actually brings that element of emotional motivation.

Tom Asaker continues “Effective leaders know that the essential first step to changing people’s behavior is to understand their perspective and embrace their desires and beliefs“.

To change people’s behavior (their daily actions) it is thus necessary to understand people’s beliefs and build from there. It is absurd to try to change people against their beliefs.

When embarked on a change project, first understand people’s beliefs. And build change on them.

How to Thrive Personally through the Upcoming Societal Changes

‘Middle class’ disappears as a result of the Fourth Revolution. We have also described the society issues we are facing with the disappearance of ‘middle class’ and how we can resolve them. In this post we will examine the consequences of this event from an individual perspective.

While society needs to find solutions to deal with the increased inequality which will necessarily happen as a result of the Fourth Revolution, what should an individual do to be more certain to be part of the people who will benefit from the change?

“Choose to commoditize your labor or choose yourself to be a creator, an innovator, an artist, an investor, a marketer, and an entrepreneur. I say “and” rather than “or” because you have to be all of the above. Not just one” says James Altucher in his book ‘Choose Yourself‘.

Choose to be creative. It is a skill that can be trained and developed, and you should start now. On the long term, developing your creativity and being able to show it to the world is the key to your success in the Collaborative Age.

The Intrinsic Long Tail of Online Education Graduation Statistics

With the Fourth Revolution comes this new challenge to traditional universities: online courses and degrees. We have mentioned this transformation in the posts ‘online universities are becoming mainstream!‘ and ‘Another institution under siege from the Fourth Revolution: Universities‘.

In this excellent article in Fast Company, an interesting statistic become apparent. “As Thrun [the founder of Udacity] was being praised by Friedman, and pretty much everyone else, for having attracted a stunning number of students–1.6 million to date–he was obsessing over a data point that was rarely mentioned in the breathless accounts about the power of new forms of free online education: the shockingly low number of students who actually finish the classes, which is fewer than 10%. Not all of those people received a passing grade, either, meaning that for every 100 pupils who enrolled in a free course, something like five actually learned the topic. If this was an education revolution, it was a disturbingly uneven one.” Further, “a recent study found that only 7% of students in this type of class actually make it to the end. (This is even worse than for-profit colleges such as the University of Phoenix, which graduates 17% of its full-time online students, according to the Department of Education.)“.

Online education does mean effort, and there is probably some kind of long tail effect at work here: not all of those that say they intend to go for the course will go for it at the end, as it entails a significant commitment. This number should not be a surprise; and as the number of online registered students will increase dramatically, even if the percentage of those that graduate remains small, the number of people who will have benefited will still remain large – and above all, anybody, anywhere in the world, can now take the opportunity. People will simply drop out by themselves if they don’t show the necessary commitment.

The low number of graduates is not a limit of the system, it is but an intrinsic long tail effect. It does not mean failure; the sheer number of graduates does mean success of online education.

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